Broken Fears
by owlcat92
Summary: Punch. A grunt. Kick. A groan. Smash. And he was finished, toppling over, unconscious, on the ground, leaving a group of very confused villains. "Did we just?" "Yeah..." "... What now?" A shrug. - Cat


**Yep - Don't know where this came from. Just read it - I cannot explain.**

The mood was tense. Nobody really quite knew what to do. Here he was – it was _that _easy. They could just reach over and-

No, no they couldn't. Whenever somebody would try, their fingers would hover over the edge and just slink away, they just couldn't do it. It seemed too surreal. Maybe this was a dream and as soon as they touched him, just touching the hem would be enough, the dream would go '_Poof!' _and they would wake up, alone, in their various hideouts. They had been silent for over half an hour before somebody finally spoke up.

"Um… so what are we going to do with him?"

Everybody was so shocked that somebody had spoken, disrupted the crystal silence, that they couldn't tell who had talked.

"Kill me if I know." A lanky man in a bright purple suit moaned, resting his head on his hand and pouting with his blood red lips.

"Can I kill you anyways?" Another man asked, this one in a white suit; at least he appeared to be before he turned, revealing that the left side was a pitch black and on the same side his face looked mauled and burnt.

"Why no, Two-Face, old pal."

The first man's face split into a cartoonish smile as he started to giggle.

"Will you two shut up?" A female groaned, pushing fiery orange hair behind her ear and turning her head to stare at the two men, the second scowling at the first. Her light green skin almost seemed to shine like it was reflecting her beauty.

"But _Ivy_…" Joker pouted again, this time deeper, leaving the end of his sentence empty.

Poison Ivy just scowled and turned away from them, staring at the man who was lying on the floor. This man was different from the others there – he was _very _different.

The only female in the room turned to the other three men who still sat, quiet, on her other side. One was short, fat and had a long, hooked nose. His attire looked expensive, but old and worn, a top hat on his head and a golden fob watch in his pocket, one chubby hand clutched a black umbrella, the gleaming silver handle the only truly clean thing on him.

The second man was completely the opposite, he was tall and painfully thin, able to see his ribs even as he sat, hunched, on the ground. His face wasn't visible under a badly stitched hood that looked as if scraps of the same material had been used to create it; all his clothes followed this fashion, dirty and stitched. It looked as if somebody had ripped open a sack and put it on, exposing the midsection of his body, both legs and chest covered, hands and feet wrapped in dirty, used to be white, bandages. His left hand was a defining feature, as he wore a leather glove, needles connected to each one of his fingers, each containing a bright yellow liquid. Under his hood, he wore a gas mask, loose stiches covering the area where his mouth would be, eyes black and hollow.

The last man almost looked normal and could pass as a nerd down the street, wearing a bright green jacket and a purple tie overtop a darker green button up shirt. His jacket had a dark green question mark stitched on his left shoulder; he wore what looked like snow glasses, but they were green and purple; his trousers and fingerless gloves were both a very dark green, dark brown hair and sideburns.

"You guys have any idea what we could do?" Ivy asked, twisting a lock of hair in-between her fingers.

Riddler shrugged. "I don't know – never really thought we would ever… ya know… it feels _too _simple."

Penguin nodded and looked over the limp form of the Bat that was laying on the ground, cowl still firmly in place on his head. It was almost sad – years of trying on failing to subdue the Batman and now that they had achieved the task they had been waiting for, they couldn't finish the job.

Scarecrow stayed quiet, gently moving his fingers on his left hand, gripping and letting go of the air, just staring into nothingness.

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Males…"

She turned back to the others two men, who had given up death glaring each other. "Anything from you two?" She drawled.

Joker gave an over dramatic shrug and sigh, shaking his head, while Two-Face just shook his head like a normal person.

Ivy hummed. "Perhaps I could use a new spore I've been developing…" Her face broke out in a rather insane smirk before she took her hand to blow a kiss with her pink lips-

Before she froze at the voice next to her.

"I have a better idea." The voice was cold, dark, hissing. It sent shivers down her spine, before she turned to look at Scarecrow, who had turned to look straight at her. Ivy didn't quite know how, but she thought he was smiling under his mask.

"Oh, Crane?" She asked, moving her hand away and resting her chin on her fist.

"Yes… I have been developing a… _new _toxin." He was now being stared at by everybody in the room. "Not only does it release the… _power_ and _joys _of _fear_, it lets us view whatever it in their head. We can see what the Bat is thinking, see what he _fears_. I could even use it to see his past, all those little tiny things that we can use…" Scarecrow seemed to be in a world of his own. "All the pain and the death and all the beautiful, powerful _fear_. All of it, every beautiful drop – every delicious memory."

Joker was grinning, but that was normal. Two-Face spoke up. "We can see whatever he fears…"

"What are you waiting for, Crane?" Penguin asked, his voice both scratchy and lazy. "Get to it."

Even Riddler nodded, smiling a sly smile.

Scarecrow reached to his side and brought out a small capsule and broke it, the air filling with a clear, odourless gas. The villain's eyes got heavy and slowly, but surly, they lowered themselves to the floor and fell into a sleep.

The place was Gotham, they could tell that much. They could tell from the tall spires and the dark alleys – but this felt like a lighter Gotham, one that didn't feel quite so badly ruined. They were in what was, in the normal world, called old Gotham – home to Crime alley and the homes of many villains and drug dealers, but back in the day, this was a very high end area, full of galleries and theatres, home to both the A list and B list, but none lower – the exception was the Wayne's, who lived in their manor on the other side of town.

Everybody stood in a small circle, taking in their appearances – they all held a ghost like transparency.

Riddler bent down, picking up a dropped newspaper, the dates were blurred, all expect the year – 1979.

"What's up with the blur?" Riddler asked, shoving the paper into Scarecrows hands; said man stood, still, for a moment before he said. "Perhaps his will to keep his identity is much stronger than I believed."

Before Penguin could make a smartarse comment, the doors to the right of them opened, revealing a mass of people walking out into the night; a theatre.

All the faces were blurred – although their eyes were drawn to a family of three. They all looked very well off, a man and a woman with a young boy, about ten years old, standing at their sides. All they could make out was the black hair that adorned each of the three's heads. It was only then they noticed that the world was completely silent, even though they could almost see the mouths moving on the other people.

That was until the woman started to talk. "Did you enjoy tonight, -?" The name at the end was muffled, unable to distinguish a single sound.

"Oh, yes. I did!" The boy answered, his voice was happy and light.

The man reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. "Come on. We better get going."

They started to walk with the rest of the crowd and the villain's followed them, before the family of three broke off from the crowd.

"-," The woman said, stopping with the boy and looking at the man. "Are you sure this is a good idea, can we not go the long way around?"

"Nonsense, -." The man responded. "It will be fine."

The man set off down the alleyway, the alleyway now known as crime alley, and the woman and child quickly followed. "Come now, -." The woman whispered to the boy.

It only took a second for the man to jump out from around the corner, holding a silver gun in his shaking hand. The woman screamed and the man moved in front of his wife and child.

"Give me all the cash you got!" The man screamed, raising the gun and placing his finger on the trigger. "I-I'll shoot!"

"Please, now," The man tried to sooth, "Don't do anything drastic." But it was clear the man was high on something and as the father reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, he man screamed and pushed the trigger – a horrifying crack echoed through the air.

"Dad!"

"-!"

The father fell to the ground, red liquid pooling around his chest and onto the floor, his head lolled to one side on the cold concrete – dead.

"Give me the money!" The man screeched, pointing the gun towards the woman and her son. But the woman froze, just for a split second, but a split second is all it took and the man fired again, the woman fell next to her husband, suffering the same fate.

"Mum!"

The man dropped his gun and raced forwards towards the woman, reaching to her neck and grabbing her pearl necklace that rested there, snapping it and running.

The villains stood, partly in shock – this memory had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

The boy ran to his parent's dead bodies, hugging their necks and crying. "W-Wake up. P-Please, just w-wake up. Mummy? Daddy? W-Wake up. I'm s-scared, p-please, w-wake up!"

That was when it finally clicked for Ivy. "Wait… is that…" she pointed at the sobbing boy. "Is that… _Batman_?"

The villain's stared in shock at the crying child – well, everybody but Scarecrow who looked simply bored and Joker, who was just giggling at the 'joke'.

A loud high pitched screech filled the air with the fluttering of wings. The boy screamed and put his now blood soaked arms above his head to 'protect' himself from the onslaught of bats that filled the air.

The memory faded into black and the villains were left standing in the dark landscape and all turned to Scarecrow, who looked back them and answered their unanswered question. "That was the reason he became Batman."

"He watched his parents get… shot." Penguin raised an eyebrow before rubbing his chin. "Now that I think about it – Batman has always been very anti-gun, hasn't he?"

Joker nodded. "Yes!" He bounced on his heels, grinning.

Ivy didn't quite understand what the feeling was that was pooling inside her chest – she had felt it before, she had felt it whenever one of her plants had been hurt – she felt almost… _motherly_.

She frowned and looked around, almost like she would be able to see the memory again.

Scarecrow smiled, it was somehow very obvious that he had, the strings on his mask tugging – he let of a soft, crazy, high-pitched giggle.

"Oh, another memory – this one so very sweet… if not… _rewarding_…"

The room burst into light.

The villains all looked around, they appeared to be in a park of sorts – Ivy was partly smiling, the park, or garden was more likely, looked well-kept and groomed, well looked after. A soft crunching sound brought them to their senses and they all snapped around. There was a man walking closer to them, his face was blurred, but raven hair was still easily seen.

They had no doubt that this man was Batman, he was tall enough, fit enough and he had that air of… it wasn't darkness, not quite yet. It was building.

Over the man's shoulder was equipment – excavating equipment; ropes, hooks, pulleys.

"Ohhhh!" Joker cackled. "He's climbing! Or falling!" The joke wasn't funny, but it only caused the man to laugh harder.

Their eyes followed the man, watching as he walked past them and picked up a crowbar from a bag he was carrying, stopping at the closed off well that they had failed to notice at first. It was old and made of cobblestone, moss-covered and dirty; it was covered by a large wooden slab.

The man pushed the crowbar underneath the wooden covering and grunted, lifting it and pushing it from the well top. He then attached a rope to the side of the now open well and started to climb down. The villains all crowded around, staring down the well, before the world flashed and they found themselves in a dark cave.

Penguin opened his mouth. "Where are we?" He asked, looking everywhere but the correct way. "What's going on?"

Riddler silently reached out and grabbed the man's chin, turning it to face where everybody else was staring. 'Batman' was descending from the ceiling from where they assumed was the well.

He landed on the ground and looked around; they could _almost _see a soft smile on his face through all the blur. Loud screeching filled the air and bats flew through the cave, exiting where the man had entered – but the man didn't even crack a sweat as he walked through the flock of bats, walking along the rocks and into a much more open cavern. The villains all silently followed.

"Whoa…" Riddler whispered, actually impressed.

The room flashed for a second, showing computers lining the walls, items filling the large gaps and costume cases – this, this was the Batcave.

Everything went dark.

Scarecrow tittered. "A fear broken… almost, _almost _gone forever…"

A voice filled the darkness.

"Why bats, - -?"

"Bats scare me." This voice was defiantly Batman, but not with the underlying growl they were used to hearing. "I figured it was time for everybody else to share my fear."

It was quiet before another voice echoed out throughout the black.

"W-Who are you?" The man sounded terrified.

"I'm Batman."

The villains all stared at each other, Ivy opened her mouth to speak before one last conversation started.

"Tati?" A child.

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me."

"I won't, my little bird."

Ivy looked around. "Who's for waking up?" She put her hand up in favour of her own question, along with anyone else, except Scarecrow, who shrugged and cracked open a pellet, letting the smoke overtake everything.

And then did the villains wake – on cold dark concrete, next to the still sleeping form of the Bat. Nobody made a move to remove the cowl, all just getting up and walking away.

Ivy would deny it later, but she searched that alleyway, looking for where the Batman had been born and left just a single, blood red, rose.

Because, after all; what was Gotham city without the Batman?

**I hope I made Scarecrow work.**

**This Ivy thing just kinda happened.**

**Yeah, this was weird and I did quote the Dark Knight movies quite a bit. Still, it was fun writing... appart from the fact that I almost cried when I wrote about Tom and Martha...**

**So yeah.**

**Review and/or PM me,**

**- Cat =^.^=**


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